New Media
Why PGE and PacifiCorp struck a $1.9B acquisition deal and what it could mean
Longtime Portland utility analyst Robert McCullough said he’d been expecting PacifiCorp to unload assets. “They’re roto-rooting their capital base so they can handle wildfires,” he said.
McCullough then added: “If it gets any worse on the litigation, we will in fact see some other sales.”
Churchill MOU backers ‘publicized the outcome’ without hammering out key details, says U.S. energy expert
McCullough said that despite the massive 2,250-megawatt block of power promised at Gull Island, long-heralded as one of most attractive undeveloped hydroelectric assets in North America, less risky alternatives requiring fewer new transmission assets could exist within Québec. He said research conducted by his firm points to the potential to upgrade existing Hydro-Québec plants and the addition of new wind assets.
“It just doesn’t seem like a stretch to me,” he said, noting that because the price formula for existing Churchill Falls power takes into account the cost of Quebec’s total energy supply and replacement costs, the final bill for Gull Island will also have a direct impact on the price of the electricity produced upriver.
Extreme cold: Hydro-Québec ran out of power for Boston
“Hydro-Québec’s public statements were very optimistic, but we know the reality is a little different,” adds Mr. McCullough. “The drought [in James Bay] has lasted for three years now, and there are some indications that it could continue for a fourth year.”
New Articles
The Supremes sing a new tune: U.S. Supreme Court tariff decision, energy prices
On Feb. 20, the Supremes (the American judges, not the musicians) announced that they have rejected President Donald Trump’s wild misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As I have noted before, the bizarre emergency orders that initiated a trade war with much of the planet might well have been written while on drugs, not simply responding to drugs.
Creating competitors: Trump’s regime changes in Canada and Venezuela
Recent press coverage of the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his replacement with Delcy Rodríguez has been a case of fanciful explanations chasing very few facts. The administration has been of little help with its recent endorsement of Maduro’s second-in-command as the new leader of Venezuela.
Problems with CleanBC roadmap
British Columbia’s CleanBC program was initiated in 2018. It has spawned innumerable websites, reports, studies, and communiques. In February 2023, it was updated with the Roadmap to 2030 plan.
The Roadmap is plainly aspirational. It is, as it says, a roadmap. However, 60 percent of the way to the objective, it is unclear whether real progress is present.
New Reports
Trump and Energy: Mercantilist or Simply Confused?
Mercantilism in its simplest form is government intervention in international trade to block imports and expand exports. Over the last fourteen months, the United States has embarked on the second largest set of tariffs in its history. Only the Smoot-Hawley legislation of June 17, 1930, was more significant, and Smoot-Hawley was a major cause of the Great Depression.
New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) Scheduling Interruptions and Net U.S. Exports to Quebec
Quebec is in its third year of a major drought, and reservoirs continue to be drawn down to meet peak winter loads. Lower reservoirs hamper operational flexibility, which can lead to interruptions in NECEC exports, and increased imports to Quebec to address loads.
Deconstructing Trump’s Energy Tariff
On February 1, 2025, the president issued an executive order imposing tariffs on Cana-dian energy. The actual tariff language was contained in a previous executive order enti-tled “Declaring A National Energy Emergency.”[…]
The anomalous energy sources in Section 8(a) do not include solar and wind which have no fuel. In the case of “geothermal heat” and “kinetic movement of flowing water”, this is a strange construction of words that attempts to define the “fuel” for geothermal and hydroelectricity. However, they are not commodities since they are not traded, trans-portable, and relatively difficult to measure.